Country has prospered before and after pledge
To the Editor:
In 1892, Republican President Benjamin Harrison and Congress endorsed the following secular flag pledge: ?I pledge allegiance to my flag and the republic for which it stands ? one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.? This pledge, accompanied by a flag salute, and backed by the national education association, was written specifically for school children to honor the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus? discovery of the New World.
Then in 1924, during another Republican administration and with the urging of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the American Legion, the pledge was somewhat depersonalized by dropping the ?my? and replacing it with the United States of America. The change was opposed by the pledge?s creator Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister from Boston.
In 1940 a suit brought by Jehovah?s Witness families challenged the public school practice that all students recite the pledge. This resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that made the pledge mandatory. However three years later, the court reversed its decision and allowed objecting students to refrain from participating.
Then in 1954, during the Eisenhower Administration, the words ?under God? were added. It was the Knights? of Columbus concern about Godless Communism that was the prime motivator for the addition. Some argue that this last change violates the First Amendment which states that Congress make no law respecting an establishment of religion.
Nevertheless, it has been from its beginning a nice patriotic pledge that most American children have recited in one form or another and it is no longer said just in schools.
Still, it could be noted that this nation had managed for well over 100 years before the Rev. Bellamy composed his ?Pledge of Allegiance? and it has managed for well over 100 year since.
Jack Moore
Bel Aire Drive
Tullahoma